the CanadaVisa Team - 23 July, 2015
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada (CIMC) Minister Jason Kenney recently announced that Canada is doubling the number of privately sponsored Iraqi refugees.
"Taken together with government-assisted refugees, this means that the number of Iraqi refugees coming to Canada will have more than quadrupled since 2005," stated Minister Kenney in his announcement to the House of Commons.
Just last year, Canada responded to the United Nations' request to increase the number of resettled refugees from the Middle East by increasing its intake by 30 per cent.
"I am happy to announce further increases," said Kenney. "Canada had planned to raise its private sponsorship program levels for Damascus to 1,200 people in 2009. I have instructed my officials to increase that number by an additional 1,300 people per year for the next three years. The number of government assisted refugees will also increase by 230 people."
Every year, Canada resettles 10,000 to 12,000 refugees from 70 different nationalities; this works out to about one out of every ten refugees settled globally.
"Canada will continue to play a leading role in easing the plight of Iraqi refugees through resettlement," said Kenney.
